The Little Book spirit floated before the youth, crossing its small arms and lifting its head high. "What a fuss over nothing. It is merely Chaos Mist, not Chaos itself. It is not that significant."
Chaos was a mysterious gas within the universe.
Similar to demon qi or spirit qi, this gas was superior to all and reigned above everything.
To some extent, it far surpassed the yin qi from the Plane of Time within Yao Xiaoxiao's body.
Legend had it that the universe was born from a great explosion. After the explosion, stars coalesced, and heaven and earth gave birth to life, from which Chaos emerged.
It mostly existed between star seas, forming vast Boundary Seas of Chaos.
Its existence could isolate everything, making it forbidden to gods.
Most of the time, Chaos played the role of insurmountable walls in the universe that living beings could not cross.
In the knowledge base Xu Xian had inherited, the Boundary Sea outside the Cangming Realm in the past was blocked by Chaos.
Dark creatures had crossed over from a corner of the Sea of Chaos.
In the timeline of the Era of Primal Chaos, there were once supreme Immortal Emperor experts who attempted to traverse the Chaos to explore the origins of the universe and find the source of the dark creatures.
The result was that while tens of millions went, not a single person returned.
Because of this, Chaos was endowed with mysterious and dangerous attributes.
Chaos had always existed only outside the Cangming Realm. He never expected to find traces of it in present-day Fanzhou.
This inevitably caused Xu Xian to instinctively harbor some extremely unpleasant thoughts.
The Little Book spirit saw through its master's concerns and worries, proactively explaining, "Master, there is no need to worry. Chaos Mist is different from Chaos. They are two distinct things. Chaos Mist is merely a derivative of Chaos and can be artificially controlled."
"In the Cangming of the Era of Primal Chaos, many sects and experts would head to the Sea of Chaos to capture this drifting Chaos Mist and bring it back. They would use it in important places, such as sect holy lands or outside immortal courts and grotto-heavens, combined with large-scale illusory formations to keep outsiders away."
"That old tortoise is imprisoned beneath the Nether Pool. This Chaos Mist was likely left behind by the Li family mentioned by that tortoise. It should be intended to prevent the tortoise from escaping. Our guess should be correct: Fanzhou is very likely the sky prison of the Li family the tortoise spoke of, used to imprison inmates who cannot be killed."
Hearing this, Xu Xian's thoughts turned deep. If they were afraid of escapes and had laid down Chaos Mist to trap all of Fanzhou, then why was a Sky Gate left open?
He felt there was a contradiction in this.
He shared his thoughts with the Little Book spirit. Upon hearing them, the spirit did not find it strange or unexpected and told Xu Xian.
"Some beings have many methods. To escape a seal, their main body can stay behind while they use their divine sense to possess ordinary creatures, thereby evading the surveillance of the Upper Realm."
It continued, "In Cangming, the lands are interconnected, and the same applies to planes. People from the lower realms can ascend to the Upper Realm through the Sky Gate, but that only applies to most ordinary beings.
For old monsters like that tortoise, there is more than one path to cross planes."
"Surrounding the entirety of Fanzhou with this Chaos Mist should be to prevent anyone from reaching the Upper Realm through other means."
"As for why the path of the Sky Gate remains open, it is not hard to understand. It is the only ascent channel reserved for this world. Likewise, it is for the convenience of the Li family to enter and exit Fanzhou."
"A door can be opened inward, and naturally, it can be opened outward. If people can walk out, people can naturally walk in."
"Furthermore, the Li family must have prepared on the other side of the Sky Gate. If that old tortoise takes the Sky Gate route, he will surely be blocked and sent back. Since it is a cage, there must be a jailer guarding the gate."
The Little Book spirit spoke at length, and Xu Xian organized all the relevant information in his mind, his thoughts spinning rapidly.
Speculating.
Deducing.
The connections between these matters.
He always felt that many things should not be so superficial, as if he and the Little Book spirit could just guess correctly so easily.
He felt that even if Fanzhou truly was a cage, it should not just be holding a single old tortoise.
Otherwise, why go through such trouble? They could have just trapped the Demon Abyss with Chaos Mist instead of the entire Fanzhou.
Moreover, although that old tortoise was an Immortal King expert, he was only an Immortal King.
He was not an Immortal Emperor. For the Li family to imprison him here, there must be an Immortal Emperor expert overseeing things.
Why would they spend so much for a single old tortoise?
Sinking the Demon Abyss, burying the Nether Pool, and even trapping Fanzhou... it was too irrational.
So he guessed that perhaps Fanzhou also imprisoned an existence even more remarkable than the old tortoise.
Or perhaps Fanzhou hid a massive secret of the Li family. The Chaos Mist was not to prevent those inside from escaping, but to stop those outside from rushing in.
That possibility existed as well.
It was possible that a fellow like Lu Yuan was once a remarkable existence like the old tortoise, also imprisoned here by the Li family.
But then again, if all of Fanzhou was established by the Li family, and his own master, Li Taibai, came from the Li family, why did he seal the Sky Gate and forbid anyone from ascending?
Yet, the Immortal Pavilion he left behind hinted at the hope that a celestial would be born in Fanzhou.
The Sky Gate was sealed, so where would a celestial come from?
It was too contradictory.
Thinking about it gave him a headache.
He shook his head to clear his thoughts.
He was currently just an ordinary cultivator, far from becoming an immortal. It was a bit too early to think about these things.
As for the answers to these troubling questions, Xu Xian thought he should be able to get them from the mouths of the old tortoise, Lu Yuan, or even his master when the time was right in the future.
Xu Xian ended his self-torment, but the Little Book spirit was still introducing the Chaos Mist before them.
It explained that this was a formation.
A high-level formation. Once a person stepped into it, they would be completely lost, and then their life source would be slowly devoured by the Chaos Mist.
In the end, they would turn into withered bones.
This was also the reason why living beings never returned.
It reminded Xu Xian never to do anything reckless.
If he went in, he truly would not be able to come out. Within it, even the spirit was powerless now.
Xu Xian said it was worrying unnecessarily. He had come to see it purely out of curiosity. He certainly would not do anything risky.
Besides, he was doing perfectly fine staying in Fanzhou. His home was here, his sect was here, and his development prospects were bright.
Why would he wander inside for no reason?
Unless he was mentally ill.
The Little Book spirit did not argue. After thinking, it seemed it really was worrying over nothing.
Xu Xian returned after seeing the Nether Gate and the Chaos Mist.
At dusk.
Jin Qing also returned to the Nether Hall and found Xu Xian. The moment she entered, she asked him, "Did you go to the mist sea?"
Xu Xian did not answer, instead asking a question of his own. "How are the preparations going?"
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